


A hiccup of a viking

by EdgarAllenPoet



Category: How to Train Your Dragon (Movies)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Character Study, Chief Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, Gen, Loyalty, Viking Family Feels, and do an amazing job of it, basically a how it feels to have the chiefs disaster of a son grow up and take over the village, dad Gobber
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-28
Updated: 2020-12-28
Packaged: 2021-03-11 00:07:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,043
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28375935
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EdgarAllenPoet/pseuds/EdgarAllenPoet
Summary: You knew it would happen eventually.Stoick had become more and more enthusiastic about his son’s future leadership these past few years, but you’d thought the boy would be older.  You’d thought you’d all have Stoick around, smoothing over the transition, guiding his boy into leadership.
Comments: 3
Kudos: 39





	A hiccup of a viking

Imagine you’re an adult on Berk. Born and raised there, never left, just like everyone else you’ve ever known. You’re well into adulthood, old enough to see the younger generation start to edge into adulthood after you. Your own child is still not quite a teen; you waited a bit longer than some of your peers. You’ve lived a hard life, just like everyone else. Seen a large number of people gone before their time, lost peers in childhood and close friends in adulthood. Sometimes ships go out and never come back. Sometimes dragons hit and do more than burn down houses. Sometimes winters are just that hard. 

But things are better now than they were when you were a child, you suppose. There hasn’t been a plague in your child’s lifetime, and famine is always looming but hasn’t been a reality in Stoick’s reign as chief.

You remember Stoick as a young man, though you weren’t ever the closest friends. You remember growing adjacent to him in youth, remember how his father used to glow with pride over his boy. Always strong, capable, taking action and getting results, an excellent fighter, never hesitating to take action, and more caring than you’d expect someone that fierce would be capable. You remember when Stoick’s father handed down the title; you remember Stoick being crowned as chief.

You saw him marry Valka, and while Valka had always been a bit of a wallflower in the village, it was clear the way she made his heart swell and his eyes shine. They were perfectly, powerfully in love, and well. It’s a new day of age. Different than the days the village elders speak of. You can marry for love, now. Stoick does. Valka makes a peculiar chieftain’s wife, but her love only proves to make him a stronger leader.

And then she’s gone.

You’ve lived a long, hard life, the kind of life that lets you look back on plenty of befores-and-afters. You remember the times before your mother passed, and the time after. You remember the time before the treaty with the Beserker’s, and the era of peace after. 

You remember your chief before his wife’s passing. He’s a very different man after.

Stoick was never quite this rough around the edges, never so short-tempered. He’d been a mountain of a viking since adolescence, but the grief of Valka’s passing weighs heavy on his shoulders, and it is only now under that grief that he seems to loom rather than study.

It’s hard to believe this man used to dance, used to shine beaming smiles around the village, smirk at the start of battle, used to be a young man roaring in helpless laughter surrounded by friends in the Great Hall, staying out late enough into the evening that the elders murmured about it under the next day’s morning sun.

This serious man. This reserved chief. Always ready to serve his village and his people in any way they need, but no longer smiling the way he used to. But he suffers this loss the way he’s suffered all others-- friends, soldiers, both of his parents-- with quiet, solitary stoicism. 

He’s truly grown into his name.

And his own son, unfortunately, is growing into his name as well. Now, Stoick’s done the best he can as a single father, nobody can resent him for that. Little Hiccup was the apple of his father’s eye; it was an ordinary sight to see the mighty chief Stoick march through the village square with his tiny child cradled at his hip, seemingly weightless. 

It wasn’t spoken of, because it was impolite to speak of these types of truths, but nobody really expected Hiccup to make it. Stronger, more formidable children has perished from less. There had been eleven babies born in the two year window with the chief’s own, and by their tenth birthday, only the six remained. Hiccup was, miraculously, one of them.

You’re an adult on Berk and dragon attacks are a regular occurrence. Some of the older children help in these battles, fetching water and running to fetch weapons, starting to fight alongside their parents to defend their home against these terrible beasts. 

Not Hiccup. Everyone knows to chase that child back indoors anytime you spotted him out in the heat of battle. It’s a miracle he’s lived this long, you don’t want the chief to lose his son after all. 

But this boy... good gods. You don’t know how Gobber has the patience for him, then again the man essentially raised him alongside Stoick. That’s not much surprise. You remember those two in their younger years, remember the drama that ruffled feathers and threatened to shatter traditions. They were brothers, soul-mates, the sort of friends who’d survive anything. Even unrequited feelings. Even village scandal and heartbreak.

Of course he’d help raise Stoick’s child; he probably would have even if Valka hadn’t met her fate. You’d think two of the fiercest viking warriors in your generation raising the boy would have had more beneficial effects, would have rubbed off on him a bit more. It’s not his fault he’s cursed in stature, but did he have to grow a demeanor to match it?

Imagine you’re an adult on Berk and it’s just another dragon fighting graduation ceremony. You’ve seen a few. They’re always a great spectacle, bloody and vicious. Great entertainment. You remember when Bladder’s boy a few years ago had nearly gotten maimed by that Deadly Nadder, how his three older siblings had leapt from the stands into the arena to defend their youngest. That had been quite a show, and honestly, a bit of an embarrassment. 

This, somehow, is more so. The chief’s son of all people casting his helmet aside and denying his heritage. You’ve seen the chief angry before, more times than you could possibly remember, but you’ve never seen him so beside himself with fury. The boy has trained a night fury, something that should be impossible. You board a ship and prepare yourself for battle. 

And this gangly little hiccup of a viking is the one to defeat the Red Death, the dragon you’ve dreamed of since hearing the legends in childhood. This tiny boy soars through the sky on a night fury and storms into battle. Stoick finds his son after the battle, barely alive, cradled in the dragon’s embrace, still breathing.

You’ve lived a hard, long life. Most of your life you’ve been fighting dragons, but that was before. Now, after the battle of the Red Death, things are so much different. It’s unnerving at first, getting used to the monsters walking the streets, but you can get used to anything with time. Stoick’s boy is the same as he’s always been, twitchy, nervous, always getting himself into trouble. This time the trouble is dragon-sized, and he’s dragging the rest of the village teens with him. Every kid on the island wants to learn to ride dragons. You, and the rest of the adults around you, are a bit less convinced.

You watch this boy grow towards adulthood, and you think Stoick is insane to send him and the others off on their journey towards the edge of the world, or wherever they think they’re going. You think it’s even madder when the youths return, dragging war with them. Berk spent hundreds of years fighting dragons just to survive. You never imagined other vikings hunted the things for sport. For profit. Went out looking for them, and were successful enough to make a living at taking them down. 

And of course this boy, bleeding heart that he is, wants to take these hunters down. And Stoick, who’s been kind and caring as long as you’ve known him-- even under the disguise of recent years-- supports his son enough to follow him into battle.

You wanted a better life for your children. Gobber used to preach that this generation would be leading you all into the future, and it seemed like a nice dream. Peace with the dragons had seemed impossible, but you’d done it, somehow. Now, though. Peace with other vikings wasn’t even imaginable.

Berk was never big enough to warrant much violence. Just hanging onto the cliff and trying to survive, keeping to themselves and taking care of their own, that’s what they did best. Now their own included dragons, and Hiccup’s adoration for them was contagious. You spent most of your lifetime living at war with dragons, now it’s hard to imagine not living alongside them. 

Imagine you’re an adult on Berk and your chief is dead. Stoick the Vast, one of the greatest warriors of your generation, killed under the fire of a dragon. His long lost wife returned. His son promoted to chief. 

You knew it would happen eventually; Stoick had become more and more enthusiastic about his son’s future leadership these past few years, but you’d thought the boy would be older. You’d thought you’d all have Stoick around, smoothing over the transition, guiding his boy into leadership. 

You watched Hiccup grow up-- soft-spoken and frightful, too sensitive for a viking, too empathetic, too curious, not at all viking-like. But Stoick trusted him, and you trusted Stoick. You’ll follow the rule of this new young chief.

This new young chief has flooded the place with dragons. Every day he runs off on some new mission, every night he returns with more refugees. You’re all more than welcoming to the beasts; this is your way of life now, and you can’t imagine your life without them. These kids are growing into formidable warriors, even if their way of fighting is a bit different than yours was at their age. Peace with dragons. Cooperation with dragons. Protection and loyalty are two way streets. This is your way of life now. This is Berk. 

And then, with threats of violence escalating and churning all around you, this boy who’s honestly too young to be called a man, let alone a chief, moves the entire village off the island. Berk is wherever you all are. It seems ridiculous. Unimaginable. 

But you trusted Stoick, so you resign yourself to trusting his son. Hiccup, Chief of Berk, you’ve heard others chuckle when they say it, but only ever privately. You suppose you’ve followed more ridiculous plans before.

Imagine you’re an adult on Berk, and everything is different than you have ever known it to be. You remember this young man at twelve years old, setting off some contraption that sent the entire forge up in flames. You remember him as a little child, playing in the village square, and as a sneaky boy, slipping away with that dragon of his and getting himself kidnapped, all for the Greater Good. Less than a year ago you saw the kid disobey direct orders from the chief, mounting that dragon and racing off into the face of war, convinced he could talk the devastating war-monger into peace. Now, you cheer in a crowd of your people as this boy you call chief belts through the clouds and disappears with a roar of thunder and a huge crack of lightning.

The battle is over, and everyone is back on the ground. These young warriors and their dragons, all of the beasts you’ve accepted as Hooligans and come to adore. This strange little viking, Stoick’s hiccup of a son, the child you didn’t expect to make it to adulthood, says goodbye to his dragon. You all follow his lead.

This young man has revolutionized your way of life, changed hundreds of minds and hearts, brought peace between Berk and the dragons. And he revolutionizes things again, sending the dragons away, offering the chance at real, actual peace like you’ve never known it. You’ve lived a hard, long life. Maybe your child’s life will be easier. Maybe this is the sort of peace that lasts.

Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, son of Stoick, first viking to train a dragon, chief of Berk, stands on the edge of a cliff and revolutionizes everything for the second time in his lifetime. You trusted Stoick. You trust his son.

Your heart breaks as you mark this journey, from the time before you lost dragons, to the time after.


End file.
